a ding dang mingle

[endsjustified]

WHO: anyone
WHERE: anywhere
WHEN: Day 9, morning through to late afternoon

[well there's still new landmarks to explore, new teammates (and new ragged individuals) to meet. occasional gunfire's been resounding through the woods sometimes, scaring birds up into the air and sending wandering pygmidillos in the meadow askitter.

what are you up to this fine day?]

Comments

[finalbows]

It's--

It's. On the tip of my--

I don't know. _{Blast. Imagine if that had worked.}

[mykidisthebest]

It would be an impressive trick if it really did work! Unfortunately it only works off of what you know. Even skills have their limits.

[finalbows]

<sub>is it....really blue.....?

[ somebody has to do some soul searching after this conversation re: something he's always implicitly known but never admitted. ]</sub>

...No wonder Red wanted you to walk about using it. He loves little... nudging, like that. Made the cat make himself a fool picking up apples out of a water barrel some few days ago.

_{[ definitely role-playing like he hates this less than he does.]}

Well! That's my part paid. Shall we? Though if you're aiming for quantity... I'll trade you another if you tell me what it's for as a price.

[mykidisthebest]

Blue's a good color. It's not bad to like it. And Red seems like a little punk, but I don't think he could get away with being a pushover here.

[starts heading for the laundromat; they can walk and talk, and he can start cleaning clothes and talk. multitasking!]

Hmmmmm~ Sure, I don't mind telling you, but what kind of truth do you want to give me in exchange?

[finalbows]

..hm, hm. Something else harmless...

You know, this place may look quite idyllic, but it's more dangerous than it looks. Let's see...

Ask me how many times I've died.

_{[ this is going to give a completely wrong impression of HOW often people are dying here, but also, like, people ARE dying. ]}

[mykidisthebest]

[he already knows Rose died once so he's expecting the answer to be "more than once"]

I expected that to be a sensitive topic for some people. How many times have you died?

gray is how I indicate where his memories got altered in canon I've decided

[finalbows]

Six.

_{[ his memories of the cycles are an utter morass, but each fatal loss is somehow one of his most vivid memories of the war-- more than once, at his own brother's blades. ]}

[mykidisthebest]

[they've barely been here a little over a week, so he knows all of those couldn't have been from here]

Death sounds like it's a little malleable where you're from too.

[finalbows]

Oh, no. Not where I'm from. I'm just special.

_{[ laundromat, hoy! ]}

[mykidisthebest]

[checks to make sure none of the machines need coins, otherwise they're out of luck]

Special enough to have death reject you on two worlds? Or are you, uh, immortal?

[finalbows]

<sub>[ no coin slots, lucky(?).

but why do you have to word it as rejection, like he's not good enough to die.... He hops up on one of the machines not in use to sit atop it with his legs crossed, and holds out the basket. dude, the machine is right next to you. so lazy. ]</sub>

Three worlds. And-- yes, but no. It's complicated. Obviously, I wouldn't go around calling myself an Angel if I was doomed to get wrinkled and decrepit like most people some day, now, would I?

[mykidisthebest]

[he DID offer to help, so he'll help! takes the basket and starts sorting lights and darks into separate machines. proper clothes washing is happening]

Angels do usually have some kind of association with youthfulness, I guess. What's the third world you've been to? Besides this one and your home world.

[finalbows]

Should have asked my favorite. Gaia's worth talking about. The third one's near the worst. It doesn't even have a proper name.

_{[ with careful wording he's able to withhold information from that little trick, it looks like. Death has rejected him in three worlds, but he's been to four. It really is too bad he asked about the third one. ]}

It was a glorified arena more than a world.

[mykidisthebest]

Arena? So it's just a world for fighting?

[that does sound boring, he's unimpressed]

I could ask about Gaia instead, if you want to talk about it.

[finalbows]

It is quite literally just a world for fighting.

_{[ within that answer is an entire ocean of his disdain. somebody did not like the Super Smash Bros dimension. nigh immediately once it's on the table, he says, ]}

Ask about Gaia instead.

[mykidisthebest]

[he will jump on that topic enthusiastically since it sounds more interesting than "just a world for fighting"]

Would you tell me about Gaia, then?

[finalbows]

_{[ he immediately cheers, absently kicking one of his legs... ]}

Gaia is beautiful! I've never seen a world more alive, despite everything that was done to it. ...Perhaps because, honestly. It does provide some.. stark contrasts.

Hm... _{[ he studies yoojin, for a few moments.. ]} You look rather human, and I've seen some react like other tribes are a novelty, so-- perhaps this'll be notable? They're less than half the population, on Gaia. They're the largest singular group... but those who you might call 'beastmen' outnumber them, three to one.

Anyway, it's a planet, we've four continents, but most folk live on the Mist Continent. Living down in a low, flat land like this is-- was unthinkable, there, on account of it being dangerous to live at this low an elevation. I wonder if you can guess why?

[mykidisthebest]

[nods in acknowledgement to the comment of his humanness]

Perfectly normal human, that's me. Earth is mostly humans, so it would be stranger if I wasn't one.

If I had to make a guess...are the lower elevations overrun by monsters, by chance?

[finalbows]

Mm--hm. Near completely. _{[ he pauses. ]} ...maybe less so, nowadays, actually, the Mist should be-- thinning, now... what a thing to imagine. A clear view every day, from the peaks to valleys...

[mykidisthebest]

A "Mist"? Is is like this mist here, then? I was told there are monsters running around in this mist too.

[finalbows]

Could be. It's difficult to tell. I tested it, briefly, but the results I got made me rather wary at the time and I encountered plenty of distractions to push it from my mind.

....I suppose I could ask Red for a bit of mist-powered machinery from home. If it runs, we'd know. There's other things I could do, too.. but most of them would be direct antagonizing of the presence within it.

I suspect it's not the exact same, or that it's... discriminatory, in some way, in how it's produced.

[mykidisthebest]

I wouldn't be surprised if it's slightly different. Every world is going to have some variation in it, right? But it would be nice if you're familiar with it; any kind of familiarity can be an advantage when dealing with an unknown element.

But, it's nice to know that it's vanishing on Gaia. That means the people there don't have to deal with it as much, right? I'm sure it's nice.

[finalbows]

It means they won't have to deal with it any more, yes. No more mist madness. No more wildlife twisted into monsters. No more mist engines, either.

..I can tell you practically everything there is to know, about the Mist from back home. I worked with it. If Red won't provide, I could try and build a mist-powered device myself. ...save for the little fact we're in a sheep pasture with little in the way of decent scraps to use, of course.

[mykidisthebest]

I don't think you need to go that far. I don't know what we'd do with a mist-powered machine even if you built one, so there's no need to go through that much effort. The Mist does seem like it's dangerous, though. How did you get rid of it back home? Knowing that much might be worthwhile here if it gets any closer.

[finalbows]

Fair enough. Saves me the trouble.

<sub>[ then the next question hits.

oh, boy. That exact wording. What did HE do to get rid of it. It comes out before he can double-think around it whether he was all that responsible or not, because the truth was as long as the mist persisted, the world he loved was on a course with death, and so it had to be-- ]</sub>

There was a tree. It trapped the dead, and left their essence-- their souls-- to rot. The mist came from its roots, and I spent twenty years wresting for power so I could stop the man who put it there. I tricked my brother into breaking the seal on the tree, and into killing a creature that controlled it, because I could not be seen doing so myself.


...I thought it would bother me more to say that. Do not ask me why I had to sneak around, please, I'm enjoying puzzling over if this and that mist could be all that alike, and it would be off subject.